Cell Phones as Dash Cams

dirkzelf said:
Interesting, but what is actually the result when you record with this camera and with the negative on the lens?


This is very bad sample because winter in finland is black and white anyways.
I can give some more images later, now this is all i got.
This is one source for hacking canon to get the idea http://www.futurepicture.org/?p=97

Here sample i made, remember that piece of film is totally black to the naked eye.
lh3.googleusercontent.com__nHyhCrBSIKc_UMHrR4e1S6I_AAAAAAAAAN0_Ov_HsAl__s0_s931_Amba0017.jpg
 
OK, thanks, but WHY would I want to do that ???
 
dirkzelf said:
OK, thanks, but WHY would I want to do that ???

Ir by itself is quite useless, hiding the camera in plain sight is maybe the only thing in this context.
 
I totally got lost in WHY you came up with the piece of film in the first place, is that to see IR reflections or to block them out, or...?

And what is FLIR ?? I didn't bring that up ?!?
 
Well, i believe that you asked first ir range and usage in cameras, and i answered.
And if you are planning to use ir as you asked, you must filter visible light off, and that you do with a filter.
Ir camera goes in thermal range and many people think it's a thermal vision (flir) but it's not.
Actually it is kinda, but it can see objects only if they are hotter than 200 celsius or so.
 
Sabe said:
Well, i believe that you asked first ir range and usage in cameras, and i answered.
And if you are planning to use ir as you asked, you must filter visible light off, and that you do with a filter.
Ir camera goes in thermal range and many people think it's a thermal vision (flir) but it's not.
Actually it is kinda, but it can see objects only if they are hotter than 200 celsius or so.

Right, OK, thanks for clearing that up, I got confused!

BUT..... Do I HAVE to cover the lens and block out visible light if I want to record IR reflections / lights?

I wouldn't mind recording visible light AND IR... or is that impossible / not recommended?

What if I use car headlights with IR (HIR??), would that work at all? And would it require covering the lens? If that would work then I probably would only see what these lights fall on to, right? That's not enough......

:?: :?: :?:
 
Don't the cameras usually have an IR-filter in front of them to block the IR light out of it (or at least most of it)?
Would have to hack that one out to have both visible light and IR light.
 
Mikk36 said:
Don't the cameras usually have an IR-filter in front of them to block the IR light out of it (or at least most of it)?
Would have to hack that one out to have both visible light and IR light.

These car dvr's have ir filter in their lens, change the lense and it's done.
 
dirkzelf said:
Maybe an interesting point from the developer (under tag FAQ):

"Not many people realise that their iPhone camera is sensitive to infra-red light (try filming your TV remote). This means that your phone can can be turned into a cheap night-vision camera (there are apps but not sure how good they are). We did a few experiments to try and make it work for us but the problem is that there is so little infra-red light around at night that unless you had big infra-red headlights (or pilot an attack helicopter) it doesn’t show much."

Now, I wouldn't be me to check my LG P990 camera, guess what, it works too.....! I have an IR sensitive phone camera! :D

Check your phone: start camera application, record, and see if the IR transmitter from your TV remote lights up when you press any button

Maybe I'll get me some IR-headlights, and see what's going on then..... ah well, won't work in real life I guess.... :(

If anyone has any idea on this matter, join in please!

Hi dirkzelf,

This is very interesting. I know another member was considering using infrared lights to improve night performance.

Dash Cam Man
 
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My phone camera has a slichtly red -ish color over the lens. I suspect it is an IR filter/blocker, I will have to test it with a torch first before exploring any further.... Sure, it does show the IR TV remote to light up when directly pointed at the camera, but I have no idea about reflected IR.....
 
Hi dirkzelf,

That is great. You can really see the difference with the lens and without the lens. Thanks for sharing.
 
DashCamMan said:
Perhaps the Sony Xperia T is the best available Smartphone to use as a dash cam today.

Dash Cam Man


From a photo sensor point of view for sure, however don't forget that other Xperia's have the same sensor, but no micro SDHC slot! So you can't change the storage, and since a dashcam app is highly write/delete active, you will definitely need to replace a worn-out card at some point.....!

This implies the advice to set your app, whatever it is, to write to the external SDHC card....... for that reason specifically.....!!

Now, how am I doing, I upgraded my phone to ICS 4.0.4 and recordings have improved. I now have night recordings at 24 f/sec and that's great, the lighting however is still too low. I have asked the developer of DailyRoads to implement a feature called "Exposure Compensation". It is implemented in my stock camera app, and VideoReg uses it and it gives better recordings at night, however I find Videreg not stable enough, besides it is not free. The app does have many settings available, but there are so many, that it is hard to find out what is best. Besides during driving it is too tempting to not fiddle with it, and that's flat out dangerous.....

For my phone it would be best to set to INCANDESCENT LIGHTING, 5Mb/s bitrate and fixed focus or infinity. Finding the right exposure compensation is difficult. sometimes +5, other times +10 or +15 (scale -20 to +20).

Since I run ICS now, I decided to download the app by Mikk36, I need to check a few things and see what's happening......

Later!
 
DailyRoads Voyage (Android)

First I want to say HI to all. I found that forum as well Dashcam Talk website very helpful. Anyway - back to the topic.

Before I will go with DVR-027 (my choice based on Dashcam Talk website) I have decided to test all available DVR apps on Android phone. My first choice is DailyRoads Voyager (Audio OFF, Video HQ) running on Samsung Galaxy S3 (US version) and using Aduro U-GRIP windshield mount. Here you have few test runs:


As you can see daily videos are OK but nigh-time shots are bad. Also Aduro U-GRIP is not a perfect choice for windshield mount for a phone as a dash cam (Aduro advertise it as one of the best windshield mounts on the market :eek: )

DailyRoads Voyager

PROS:
- free
- good video quality for daily shots
- small gaps between videos (less than 1 sec)
- cloud server to store files

CONS:
- below average video quality for nightly shots
- only 3 files saved as temp (no option to increase it)
- GUI can be better (smaller/graphical buttons or option to switch sides)
- video time limit option not always works (capturing 120 sec by default)
 
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Hi Jack,

or at least I presume Jack..... I use the LG P990, and would like to know what version of Android you have on your phone.

You see, mine does 1080p recording at 24fps, with the standard camera app, and it did with DailyRoads too in GB (2.3.4), but after installing ICS 4.0.4 third party apps can't record in 1080p.....

Besides your night recording is better than mine, well, considering the light captured. I have been given to understand that this is not due to software but due to the quality of camera module and lens. Better qualities, better recording in low light conditions.

Now, I am using VideoReg, and I like it a lot because you can set the EXPOSURE COMPENSATION, which is helpful in low light conditions, and makes better recordings, but won't soup up the quality of the lens of course..... that's just hardware.

Unfortunately VideoReg can't record in 1080p either, but also in 720p it doesn't get higher framerates than 14 or 15 per second, and that's just not good enough, especially considering the camera can do 1080p in 24fps, and 720p in 30fps.

So, if you are testing VideoReg, please let us know your findings.
 
AutoGuard Blackbox (Android)

I have updated my previous post with pros and cons of DailyRoads (now I can have to compare with).

My second choice is AutoGuard Blackbox (Audio OFF, Video HQ) running on Samsung Galaxy S3 (US version) and using Aduro U-GRIP windshield mount. Here you have few test runs:


AutoGuard Blackbox

PROS:
- good video quality for daily shots
- unlimited amount of temp files (limitations based only on a phone storage space)
- average video quality for nightly shots
- better time intervals for video files
- good GUI

CONS:
- video capturing errors (occur often - visible on videos above)
- app often crashes or when is not active it puts phone into sleep mode (very annoying)
- gaps between videos (around 2 sec)
- need pro version (paid) to enable some additional options (necessary when you will go for that app)
 
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Daytime records 30 fps in your phone, as does DailyRoads in mine, but AutoGuard never comes higher then 15 in mine. So for all other 3rd party dashcam apps, pretty annoying .....

so, by night you don't get 30 fps either, I guess it's an ICS issue then.....

very strange since I did have 30fps in GB 2.3.4.......

I am seriously thinking of getting me a dedicated dashcam..... I'm getting sick of all this fiddling to get it right....
 
AutoBoy Blackbox

My third choice is AutoBoy Blackbox (Audio OFF, Video HQ) running on Samsung Galaxy S3 (US version) and using Aduro U-GRIP windshield mount. Here you have few test runs:


AutoBoy Blackbox

PROS:
- good video quality for daily shots
- unlimited amount of temp files (limitations based only on a phone storage space)
- average video quality for nightly shots
- smallest (so far) gaps between videos (immediate switch)
- "battery save mode" (or issue with an app ;)) - it puts screen off but keeps recording
- good GUI

CONS:
- smallest video duration is 5 minutes
- G-sensor never trigger even on a sharp breaking
- on screen compass is useless
- need pro version (paid) to enable some additional options (necessary when you will go for that app)
 
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